Several members of the Indian T20 World Cup-winning squad are slated to make a comeback in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, which will begin later this week. But Hardik Pandya has been the most discussed player in the lead-up to the series. He was primed to take over the T20I captaincy role after Rohit Sharma retired from the format, given he was the vice-captain of the T20 World Cup side. Yet, the selectors picked Suryakumar Yadav as an option, as they expressed concerns about the all-rounder's fitness and, therefore, questioned his availability as India now build towards the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Despite the discussions off the field, with few backing the move while others sympathising with Hardik, the cricketer seemed in a rather jovial mood when India had their first practice session at the Pallekele International Stadium on Tuesday ahead of the three-match series.

Hardik was spotted having a lengthy chat with new head coach Gautam Gambhir at the training session. Later, he had a go against the two openers - Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill - who were only asked to attack all the bowlers in the 40-minute net session they had.

Hardik then batted under the watchful eyes of new assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, who later put him in a match situation. During the simulation practice, as narrated by a Revsportz journalist who was present at the venue, Hardik hit a shot through the point region and immediately claimed it to be a boundary, but Nayar disagreed, saying he had a fielder placed in that area. When Hardik asked for the exact placement of the fielder, Nayar pointed towards the position where the reporter, donning a red T-shirt, was standing.

On Hardik's insistence, when Nayar asked the reporter about the shot, he said, "If you have placed your fielder here, then it's a boundary." The cheeky response left Nayar and Hardik in splits, before the former mistook the reporter for a fan, after which the latter clarified.

Hardik eventually won the simulation practice and two later even had a chat with the reporter at the end of the practice session, where the all-rounder continues his query on the shot.

It has been a tough few weeks for Hardik, who not only lost the captaincy role, but also confirmed his divorce from wife Natasa Stankovic. After the T20I series against Sri Lanka, Hardik will return home, thus missing the ODI series, owing to personal reasons.